East Palo Alto could become the first city to see new flood fixes along San Francisquito Creek.

Palo Alto is being asked to back a project that would widen the creek’s channel downstream of Highway 101, where it curls around a residential section of East Palo Alto and follows the edge of the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course on its way to the Bay. Officials think that widening the channel could lower water levels there by three to four feet, which could be enough to prevent spillover in the event of a 100-year flood.

If approved by the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority, which includes representatives from Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, construction on the $8.5 million project could begin as soon as 2011. The money is expected to come from the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which has been accumulating tax and assessment revenue designated for the creek since 2000. It could be matched in the future with federal money.

For years, Palo Alto residents have clamored for flood control improvements in their city, including at the Chaucer Street bridge, where water backed up in 1998 due to a flood from El Niño. East Palo Alto was hit even harder, however, and many Palo Alto residents are backing the downstream project in hopes that their needs will be met next.

Norman Beamer, president of Palo Alto’s Crescent Park Neighborhood Association, said he is just glad things are finally moving forward. In nine years, the joint powers authority has yet to spend any of its money.

“This is a necessary step,” he said. “I don’t think there was ever a disagreement that we had to start at the mouth and work up. Hopefully, they’ll then turn to Chaucer bridge in a year or two and do that.”

While Palo Alto city staff members are recommending the downstream channel-widening, there are several other alternatives on the table. One is to divert the creek through the golf course, which would offer a more direct route to the Bay, but could cost as much as $40 million.

Another is to build a detention basin up in the foothills, likely on the Stanford campus.

That could ease flooding along the creek’s entire course, but not enough to withstand a 100-year flood — that is, a flood that has about a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year. It would also likely cost $20 million to $30 million and require the cooperation of Stanford, which has no direct stake in the authority.

Palo Alto Mayor Peter Drekmeier, the city’s representative on the creek authority, said that’s still an intriguing possibility.

However, he said, consensus seems to be building around the downstream option as a first step.

Meanwhile, the authority is working with Caltrans on a project that would widen the capacity of the Highway 101 bridge over the creek, Executive Director Len Materman said. With Caltrans planning to rebuild that bridge anyway, it would foot the bulk of the construction bill. The creek authority would provide environmental review and design work related to the effects on the creek. That project is expected to begin by 2012, Materman said.

The East Palo Alto City Council will weigh in today and the creek authority’s board will be asked to make a decision Thursday.

Otto Warmbier was arrested in January 2016 at the end of a brief tourist visit to North Korea. He had been medically evacuated and was being treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center when he died at age 22.